The Magnificent Seven – and One Horse Only

When they saw me taking photos, they asked me what I was doing and I answered: I have this habit of taking photos of white cowboys wherever I see them.
They told me that in fact they were not cowboys but the founding members of a political party called 7statočných - The Magnificent Seven.

They agreed to pose for me although only three of the seven were present.

They also gave us a short insight into their party program: “The members and supporters of the 7 statocznych agree, that it is necessary to do everything to change the style and aims of today’s politics and its representatives in Slovakia. The on-going corruption scandals, the deep-rooted and long-standing practice of politicians to enrich themselves at the cost of tax-payers, damaging the development of the city, its citizens, the Slovakian regions and all well-meaning and magnificent people … shows us every day that only active participation can change this negative state of affairs. It is not enough to drink beer, it is now necessary to change the present style of politics in Slovakia.”

The Magnificent Seven also concern themselves with Lunik IX as we discovered on their web-site.

“We are not afraid to go to Lunik IX and talk to the people there. We want to find a solution IF the Roma want to find a solution as well. We want to spend money in a reasonable way. It must change that all the money gets lost on the way and the situation does not change.”

We just thought this is another self-righteous populist party, until the other day when we picked up a newspaper and saw one of the Magnificent Seven – Mr. František Ténai – portrayed as the director of the local theater festival.

In Košice there exists a monument of a lonely horse called Ardo by the Czech sculptor Josef Václav Myslbek (1848-1922) that served him as a model for the famous sculpture of St. Wenceslas on horseback, on Wenceslas Square in Prague.

Maybe one day – when Mr. Ténai is done with his job of cleaning up Slovakian politics – he will be commemorated mounted on top of Ardo.

And here finally a film-still from The Magnificent Seven shot in 1960 as an American adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Seven Samurai (1954) that Mr. Ténai regards as a suitable role model for Slovak politicians to come…